Today, due to the speed of transportation, comfort, and the continually increasing advantages achieved in respect of the motorization of human creative force, the use of the automobile is widely diffused. All this has brought about a major expansion of the automobile industry, as well as a larger demand for automobiles, as a necessity of modern man.
Now then, unfortunately, an automobile owner is exposed at the same time to the latent danger of constant theft, taking little account of the owner's rights. Automobile theft is a daily fact and one of the essential problems faced by the police all over the world. Their work is complicated more every day because of the unimaginable intelligence, of which the vehicle thieves the truly proud, when they invent more and more tricks to cover or protect their criminal acts and thereby escape detection. All this has resulted in the modification and destruction of the means of identification of vehicles, their concomitant transfer to other countries, etc., all of which makes it extremely difficult to find and recover the vehicles.
This situation gives rise to the urgent need for improved identification of automobiles, to make that task easier, quicker, and more reliable.
The purpose of identification is not only differentiation of automobiles, but also the protection of property rights in all circumstances, and particularly in cases of loss, theft, and larceny. All this is equally important for automobile insurance policies.
Generally speaking, a number of means of identification of cars are in use: manufacturer, model, engine and chassis serial numbers, and of course, license plates. Experience shows that these methods of identification have constantly failed to achieve their purpose.
Some of these attempts have been disclosed in prior issued patents. Note, for instance U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,766 to Levin et al, where an etchant is employed to mark the windshield of an automobile. Other patents of the same lineage are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,585,514 to Scallon; 4,652,337 to Picone et al and 4,781,792. The latter patent also cites additional interesting art. None of the prior art disclose the in-depth for the indicia contemplated in carrying out the present invention.